The Duck Pond
by TisZiny
Summary: This is a world without the Silence, without Kovarian, and without The Question. But it is a world of Angels as little Melody Pond learns after opening her eyes to New York City, 1969.
1. Chapter 1

**The Duck Pond**

**Chapter 1**

Mummy and Daddy were fighting again. About her, she could hear them down stairs, and they were trying to be quite, they were whispering, but Melody could still hear them. Grandma said she was like a bat, because she heard things other people couldn't, but that was a silly thing to say in Melody's opinion. She wasn't a bat, she was a little girl, she'd turned seven last week.

Melody didn't like it when her parents fought. Daddy was always angry when they did, and it scared her. It must have scared Mummy too, because Mummy always cried afterwards.

"You know how dangerous it is! I will not let her anywhere near him, she's just a child!"

"But she needs to see him, Rory! Look! Look at these drawings! She said she dreamt of them, she's been dreaming of him and we need to know why!"

"No! She's only seven!"

"I was seven!"

"_And he left you, Amy!_" Melody winced as she heard her Daddy yelling and clutched her teddy closer to her. Quietly she tip-toed to the other side of her bedroom, looking out the window into the sky.

She had dreams of the stars. Of blue boxes and wandering through winding corridors and hallways, full of excitement at what she might find next. Her Mummy was worried about her dreams and Melody often heard her talking to Daddy about the doctors. She needed to see him apparently, but Melody didn't agree. Doctors were people who took care of you when you were sick, who made you better. But she wasn't sick, and even if she was, her Mummy and Daddy had always taken care of her. She had never needed to go to the doctors in her life and she didn't want to now.

Melody jumped slightly as she heard a door slam and the car starting. She frowned, but then, footsteps on the stairs, and she quickly scrambled back into bed, snuggling down under the covers and closing her eyes, her teddy tight in her arms.

Her bedroom door opened and Melody knew it was her Mummy. Mummy smelt nice, Melody could always tell when she was there. She breathed in the smell; it calmed her, and she felt her Mummy sitting down beside her, the mattress dipping at the added weight.

Mummy was crying again, Melody realised, hearing soft sniffs as a warm and familiar hand reached out to smooth her brown hair behind her ears. She wanted to ask where Daddy had gone, or why Mummy wanted her to see a doctor, but Melody found she couldn't. Instead she lay in bed, pretending to sleep, listening to her Mummy who whispered softly to her about how amazing her Daddy was and how much she loved him, how much they loved her.

The next day when Melody woke up, she went into the kitchen to find her Daddy making breakfast like he always did. "Morning Pumpkin," He smiled at her, "Would you like some of Daddy's famous pancakes?"

Melody nodded, climbing up onto her stool at the breakfast bar, swinging her legs as she waited. Her Daddy poured her a glass of juice and continued his cooking and Melody decided to ask what she had been thinking of for quite some while.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, darling?"

"Why does Mummy think I have to go to the doctor's? Am I sick?" Melody watched her Daddy in curious innocence as he stopped and turned to her worriedly,

"No, Melody, you're not sick." He told her, "I promise you, you're fine. You're not going to see the Doctor."

Melody smiled. Good. She didn't want to see any doctors.

That day Melody's Mummy and Daddy took her to the park. She liked to close her eyes and spin around on the grass until her legs got dizzy and fell easily to the ground. Sometimes if she spun fast enough, she felt like she was standing still. Mummy had once explained to her that the world was spinning and moving around the Sun, and Melody had since come to realise that she could feel it. All the time she felt the ground spinning and the world moving, her feet being pulled to the ground like the pretty magnets Mummy and Daddy used were pulled to the fridge. Daddy said that was called gravity.

Melody spun around and around, closing her eyes, her arms out wide, spinning as fast as she could, for a split second she felt still, but then she fell, the grass soft beneath her, and she giggled. The world was turning once again and Melody stared up at the cloudy sky listening to her Mummy and Daddy apologising to each other in the distance. She smiled. It was always the best times, after a fight. They were happier. A family.

"I love you," Melody could hear them kissing softly, everything was better, normal and she closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. Around her she could smell grass and dirt, her Mummy's lovely perfume and her Daddy's aftershave, incredibly old and slightly mossy stone, a nearby dog running along to catch a tennis ball, the stink of the boys playing football, it was so strange that she found this smell homing. The only thing missing, she couldn't describe. It was a smell from her dreams, like metal, a sharp potent smell, like blood, but there was more to it. A true sense of home, just like she had in her Mummy or Daddy's arms. It was organic and clean and biting and as she thought of it, her mind filled with images of those winding corridors she dreamt about, geometric shapes changing as she wandered to become a reef of coral.

But then it was gone. All of it.

The boys, the dog, her Mummy and Daddy. Instead the smell was replaced with grit, soot. The air was full of exhaust and other fumes, so different from the fresh grass and dirt of the park. Melody opened her eyes and looked up into dark night sky, completely empty, void. There were no stars.

Melody got to her feet slowly, she was in an alley. The ground was rough and cold, and she heard sirens in the distance. Shivering in the cold Melody caught sight of a newspaper, half soaked in a muddy rain puddle, she ran to it, and frowned, tracing the words with her finger tip.

New York City, it said, 1969.

**tbc**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She had never been sick before, Melody thought, coughing from deep in her chest, her lungs ripping in pain with each rough heave. But since arriving in America her life had been very different.

It had been months, and winter was harsh for a lost homeless girl in such a big city. She was often too cold, too hungry and too scared. Melody missed her Mummy and Daddy terribly, but she knew she couldn't and wouldn't see them for years and years. This was 1970, she had been taken from her Mummy and Daddy in 2018. And if she was honest with herself, she wasn't really sure if it mattered anymore.

It had been such a long time since she'd eaten more than half-rotten scraps she'd foraged from trash cans and dumpsters, longer still since she'd been protected from the snow, rain and over all cold. One kind old lady she had met within her first week had told her she'd catch her death on these streets. Melody was beginning to think she was being very much proved right.

Coughing again, her small arms wrapping around her middle, Melody knew she was dying. It didn't scare her as much as she thought it should. She felt that somehow she would be okay. Maybe she would go to heaven, like her Daddy once told her. She didn't think so. She felt like... She felt like she could fix this somehow. And that's exactly what she told the concerned man ahead of her in the alley; that she was dying, but she could fix it.

It was easy, she thought, watching as her hands began to glow. It was very pretty too. If only her Mummy could see her. Melody's arms flew wide, like she did when she used to spin in the park, and she felt her skin, her whole body explode into fire, burning her, hurting so badly. But she laughed, because she was getting better, she was fixing herself and it was amazing.

When the fire vanished and the pain was gone, Melody realised she was smaller. Her clothes were far too big, which she thought was a very good thing indeed, those clothes had been getting painfully too small for her, her legs had been getting longer, making her skirts higher, and her feet had gotten bigger, so her shoes had started to pinch her toes. Now her clothes could keep her a lot warmer, make her feel safer.

The man had run away, she saw, frowning as she realised her shoes were also too big for her now, almost twice the size of her feet. Melody didn't understand why she was so much smaller, but she wasn't surprised by it. Nor was she surprised by the change in her complexion. She had been a very pale child, like her Mummy was, but now her skin was dark, like the old lady she'd met, who'd been worried about her living on the streets.

Melody didn't really understand why, but she didn't grow up like she used to. Years passed and yet she stayed the same height and weight, never growing physically older. Mentally, however, was another story. She had always been a lot smarter than most her age, but these days she would sneak into libraries during the day time, hiding away in low, tucked away corners to read encyclopaedias and text books alike. She read of science and religion and history, devoured classics of Dickens, Shakespeare, and anything else she could find. Her favourite though, were the medical books. It hadn't taken her long to realise that along with her new size, colour and physical age she had gained a heart, something that ensured she steered clear of any and all doctors. Instead, if hurt, she'd treat herself. Remembering how her Daddy had taught her once upon a time, reading and remembering the thick books cover to cover.

She remembered everything she read. She remembered most things, actually.

Along with her vastly growing intelligence, Melody got better and better at stealing. She would steal food and money mostly, but sometimes, if she was lucky, she could get a warm blanket, or a coat. She became quite the pick pocket, and discovered all the best places to hide away if ever she needed to sleep. She didn't sleep a lot, not even before, when she had had a home and a bed and her Mum and Dad, but she slept even less now. Spending her nights instead with the stray cats and dogs, the only friends she could safely make, anyone else would question why she didn't age. But that was the good thing about being a homeless, apparently orphaned black child on the streets of New York City in the 20th century; she was invisible.

Until one day when she tried to pick-pocket the wrong person, and found herself lying easily through her teeth, putting on a British accent without a second thought and crying, telling the man who'd caught her that she'd been on holiday with her parents, but they'd died and she'd been left alone on the streets, forced to steal to survive until she could find her way back home to her grandparents in England. A week later she was on a plane to Heathrow, still incredibly unsure how she'd managed to convince them her story was true.

Once landed and transported to London Melody escaped children's services easily. She still looked to be a child, she thought perhaps four years old, but in reality, though she often lost track of dates and days in her head, using the behaviour of those around her to calendar the passing of time, she knew herself to be thirty-five. She also knew this to be the year 1997 and quickly decided she wanted to find them again, her parents.

A little too easily, she stole clothes from charity bins, feeling herself growing rapidly until she was at least eight in appearance. That certainly surprised her, after so many years of never aging at all and within one day of arriving in England she was suddenly twice the physical age. She simply shrugged it off though, it was hardly the strangest thing about her, and it made a lot of things much easier. For one, she knew the police and children's services to be searching for a toddler, not a child. Another was it was much easier for her to travel without suspicion. She found herself enough money to catch bus to Leadworth, telling the curious driver a lie about visiting her cousin, found herself a seat and waited.

**tbc...**


	3. Chapter 3

_So happy that people are enjoying this fic :) Thanks for the fav's and reviews! xo_**  
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**Chapter 3**

Melody saw her parents for the first time in twenty-eight years playing in her grandparents front yard. Her Dad was dressed in a button up blue shirt and funny brown trousers. He had a badly knotted tie around his neck and held a homemade doll, dressed almost exactly the same, but with brown hair. Her Mum held what looked like a doll of herself in one hand, and a blue box in the other.

"I'm hungry," Melody heard her Dad say,

"Okay, Rory," her Mum shrugged, "We have fish fingers and custard,"

Melody stuck her tongue out in disgust. That sounded horrible, she thought, and she said just that. "Fish fingers and custard? Who eats fish fingers and custard?"

Her parents turned quickly to look at Melody, her mother speaking first. "The Doctor does. He's funny."

"Who's the Doctor?"

"A man. He has his own time travel machine; it looks like this, see?" Her mum threw the blue box and Melody caught it quickly,

"Police public call box," Melody read, "How can a police box be a time machine?"

Her Mum shrugged, "It just is." she said, "Did you just move here? I'm Amelia Pond, this is Rory."

"Hi," Rory waved shyly and Melody laughed at him, turning back to Amelia,

"My name's... Mels."

Amelia smiled at her, "Do you want to play?"

Mels and Amelia were quick to become friends, the both of them very strong willed and outcast. It hadn't taken long after arriving in Leadworth for Amelia's Aunt Sharon to call children's services and have her put in foster care. There was a local family in Leadworth to take her in and send her to school with Amelia and Rory, something Mels found tedious. She already knew everything they learnt in school and a lot more, but she enjoyed spending time with her parents and hearing more about this time travelling Doctor.

Maybe if he came back for her Mum he could take her too. Explain to her why she'd travelled from 2018 to 1969; he could even take her back to her own time.

"Is he hot?" she asked Amelia one weekend,

"No, he's funny."

Mels picked up the Doctor doll and sat on Amelia's bed. She was told the Doctor had promised to return in five minutes a year and a half ago. She herself had been in Leadworth for months, and he was yet to appear and take her and Amelia away. Sometimes she wished she looked as old as she was, because then she could run away with the Doctor forever and marry him. Other times she was just angry he hadn't come back yet to take her back to her Mum and Dad when they really were her Mum and Dad, not her two best friends.

"But how can he travel in time?" She had asked this almost every time they talked about the Doctor, and Amelia always had the same response,

"Because he's got a _time machine_, stupid."

The other kids at school laughed at Amelia for believing in the Doctor, Mels knew her Aunt Sharon sent her to a psychiatrist who told her he wasn't real. Mels believed in him though. She had to. But years passed, Amelia went through four psychiatrists and the three of them all grew up. Mels had developed a taste for trouble, growing up with Amy. They had been in the most trouble at school, except for the boys, and even after they graduated and Mels moved into Amy's house she still liked to play against the rules.

"It was late," she said, flopping onto Amy's bed, playing absently with the blue police box from when they were kids, "I took a bus,"

"You stole a bus," Rory corrected her,

"Who steals a bus?"

"I returned it," she shrugged,

"_You drove it through the botanical garden_,"

Mels just laughed, "Shortcut."

"Why can't you just act like a person, hmm?" Amy asked her, she was more and more like the Mummy, Mels remembered every day, "Like a normal, _legal_ person?"

"I dunno," Mels grinned, "maybe I need a Doctor,"

It was 2008. Only ten years from her time and each day was harder than the last. She had come to realise she had no idea what she would do once her baby self was born, an event that would take place in barely three years; the Doctor was running out of time to come back.

She needn't have worried though. Amy, after running off with the Doctor without her not once or twice but _three times,_ came back to Leadworth with Rory just after Christmas in 2010, and a little bit into the new year took Mels into a quiet part of the garden to whisper to her quietly.

"I'm pregnant, you can't tell Rory though, not yet."

"Why not?" She asked, "It is his, isn't it?"

Amy wacked her on the arm, "Shut up, of course it's his."

"Then what?"

Amy bit her lip, "It's just... I spent so much time travelling, with the Doctor... Time travel. What if it had some sort of effect? How am I supposed to tell Rory his baby might have three heads, or like a time head or something?"

"What's a time head?"

"I dunno, but what if it has one?"

Mels laughed, "Why not just ask 'im?"

"The Doctor? I tried. He's not answering his phone."

"So get his attention another way."

Amy frowned at her, "How?"

Mels just grinned, "Come on _Mummy_," She said, her arm wrapping around Amy's shoulders, "I have an idea,"

**tbc...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Okay, left, sharp turn," Amy directed Mels who steered accordingly, "Okay, right! No, no, no I mean left." She turned the map in her hands the other way, "No, sorry, right, right! I definitely meant right!" She exclaimed as they turned right at great speed, Mels knowing exactly the way, but allowing Amy to read the map anyway, "Now loop the loop!"

Around they went, driving through the cornfield, and by God this had better work.

"Stop!" Amy told her, "_Stop!_"

Mels slammed her foot on the break and the shining red Corvette screeched to a stop and the opening of a clearing they had made. Directly in front of them was something Mels had been waiting to see for fourteen years. The big blue police public call box that was actually and time machine. Her ticket home.

Standing directly before it stood a man dressed in a big green coat and a dark blue bowtie, in his hand was tomorrow's _Leadworth Chronicle_, the front page emblazoned with the headline _'Leadworth's Crop Circle'_. Next to her Amy jumped out of the car, but Mels could only stare. She had dreamt and dreamt of this day for the last fourteen years. Of meeting the Doctor and running off with him and Amy before landing in her favourite park, seconds after she vanished from the grass and she could run to her parents and be their child again. Slowly she opened the car door and stepped out, not taking her eyes off the strange man before her as he pointed to the newspaper.

"Seriously?" He asked,

"You never answer your phone," Amy told him, closing the car door and stepping forward, "I need your help,"

The Doctor smiled, "I'm the Doctor," he told her, "I'm here to help," Suddenly he spotted Mels, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

She ignored his questions, choosing instead to walk her way around him, checking him out from every angle, "You said he was funny," she told Amy, coming to a stop directly in front of the Doctor, "You never said he was hot." she grinned at him, then caught sight of the TARDIS and ran to it, "This is the phone box! The bigger-on-the-inside phone box?" she reached out, her hands touching the blue wooden doors, "Time travel, that's just brilliant." She turned, leaning against the box as she heard the faint sounds of sirens. The others couldn't, she assumed and she smiled a bit. Her Grandma had been right to call her bat-like.

"Sorry, hello," the Doctor said, looking toward her with a frown, "Doctor not following this. Doctor very lost." He turned to Amy, "You never said I was hot?"

Mels laughed, "I've heard a _lot_ about you. I'm her best mate."

"Then why don't I know you? I danced with everyone at the wedding. The women were all brilliant; the men were a bit shy."

"I don't do weddings," Mels shrugged, stepping away from the box and looking around. The sirens were louder now, and from the look on Amy's face, close enough to be heard by average ears.

"Sirens?" Amy questioned, confirming Mels' thoughts, "Um, where did you get the car again Mels?"

"It's mine." Mels smiled, the sirens getting still closer, "...ish."

"Oh Mels, not again," Amy exasperated, "You're going to get arrested."

Mels just smiled sweetly at her as the sirens got closer, "And that's me out of time," she pulled a gun from her jacket and pointed it at the man before her ignoring Amy's yells, "I need out of here now."

"Anywhere in particular?" the Doctor asked her, his hands raised.

Mels rolled her eyes, "Anywhere that's not here, time boy."

The Doctor clicked his fingers and Mels grinned, running through the open doors into the TARDIS, quickly tucking her gun away as she moved. The Doctor brushed passed her as he ran up the stairs as Amy shut the door behind them, and Mels watched as the Doctor moved to the console, running madly about it, flicking switches and turning dials and she had to grab onto a nearby railing to stop herself from losing her footing as the whole ship jolted into flight.

It didn't take long for Amy to tell the Doctor of her pregnancy and her worries, and even less for him to promise everything would be okay. Much too soon for Mels' liking, the TARDIS landed back in Leadworth and Amy stepped out with the Doctor for a farewell. Neither of them noticed that Mels chose to stay behind, splayed out on one of the jump seats, her feet propped on the main console completely at ease in her surroundings.

She wasn't kept waiting long, and when the Doctor stepped back inside his blue box, bounding up the steps and sending them into flight once more, Mels had the impression he wasn't aware she was still aboard, the moment she thought this he disproved it, addressing her without turning round.

"If you want to stay I'd thank you to please get rid of that gun. I'd rather not have one on my ship or in my presence, strictly speaking." he turned to her with an expectant and oddly intimidating smile, "I don't like guns."

Mels rolled her eyes and pulled the gun from its place at her waist, "Have it your way then time boy," she told him, holding it out for him to take.

He snatched it from her grasp and snapped it open, tipping the bullets into his cupped palm and pocketing them, "Now then," He announced to her, "There are rules, many rules, namely, don't wander off, don't do anything stupid, don't get into trouble and _observe only_. Never get involved with the affairs of other people or planets, that's my motto."

Mels raised her eyebrows, "From what Amy's told me, you're not very good at following it,"

"I-" he faltered, "Well perhaps I get involved a bit more often than not, but it's hardly my fault, the TARDIS takes me where she wants half the time, and that mostly ends up being a planet in need of saving or an evil mastermind to overthrow,"

"Right then," Mels swung her legs off the console and stood up, "First things first."

"And what's that?"

Mels smirked and moved towards the stairs, "The grand tour of course." she told him, her arm moving to the side to display the stairs, "Show me to my room."

**tbc...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The Doctor grinned as he bounded into the TARDIS, Mels falling in behind him. She shut the doors and let out a breath, "Well, I was warned about the running." she grinned, "Who was that girl?"

"Which girl?" The Doctor asked, piloting the TARDIS into the vortex as Mels made her way up the steps and flopped casually into a jump seat,

"The one we saved; the young one. We barely said five words to her, didn't even ask her name." She frowned slightly, "She kept calling me song,"

"Oh that girl!" the Doctor clapped his hands, "Yes, she would call you Song. Those were the Gamma Forests, the closest translation of Melody in her language is Song, when you introduced yourself, the TARDIS... Well I'm sure you follow," He grinned, "Where to next? Oh, pick an author, a poet, a famous historical figure you've always wanted to meet! How about Shakespeare? He's a flirt, fancied me, you'd love him." He gave a giggling grin and then spun around.

Mels had discovered a love for this life. The adventures, the brushes with death, the pure adrenaline it gave. She ran with the Doctor and watched as he fought for the safety and people of planets and colonies, she devoured the new knowledge he could share with her, taking her to new worlds and dying stars, showing her histories and futures and far off planets she never could have dreamed of. At night when he thought her to be sleeping she snuck into the library and read book after book, planet guides and fairy tales, historical accounts and articles from the Luna University's Journal of Archaeology. She read books on him, this _alien_ that had fascinated her for so many years, and discovered so much of the destruction and blood on his hands, but also of the light and hope he brought in his wake. He saved so many people and worlds, and she had begun to help him. It was amazing.

Mels learnt the language of the Gamma Forests, she'd always been quick with languages, her time in New York with so many foreigners had taught her the languages of people all across Earth, but now she knew one so alien to her own, she was desperate to learn more. To know more about anything she could, she wanted to know the universe.

She would be lying if she said she hadn't grown attached to it all. This life on the TARDIS had consumed her life, and she'd suddenly grown wary of her future. She had spent forty years of her life waiting for her own time to return but now that life was at her fingertips she found herself scared of it. How could she expect them to believe her story? How could she explain what had happened in 1970? How could she even go back to who she was?

She had just been a child, years ahead in education and avoided by her classmates. A child who caused regular fights between her parents from what she now knew to be dreams of the TARDIS, dreams that had scared Amy. Would scare Amy.

Then there was the Doctor himself.

Mels found she didn't want to leave him. His company, his friendship had taught her many things over the past weeks, on many occasions they had been a blink away from death and his dedication and brilliance had proven him to be someone she could trust to the end of the universe. It was only when she stood eye to eye with a Dalek seconds away from killing her when she realised she did. After that particular rescue Mels had flung herself around his neck in a hug, the revelation having shaken her to the core. Trust was a weakness, she had always lived by that, had always believed you could only rely on yourself. Now, however, her views were changing, she herself was changing, into someone better than the Mels she had been before. Into someone kinder, braver, and stronger. Someone worth trust and reliance.

The Doctor returned her hug somewhat surprised, and became even more so when he noticed her eyes were glittering with unshed tears but yet when she leant in to kiss him he responded immediately. She had just meant it to be soft. A sort of thank you, a kiss symbolic of her new found faith in him and herself. He was taken aback, she could tell, his arms flailing madly at her sides, unsure whether to settle on her shoulder blades as they had been, or to find her waist or neck. But his mouth, his mouth opened under hers, and she let her tongue dart over his lower lip, before meeting his and biting it gently with her teeth.

When she pulled back he stared down at her with an unreadable state of shock spread across his face, before clearing his throat and adjusting his tweed jacket with a sniff. Mels smirked at the faint traces of pink in his cheeks, and the way he licked his lips when he thought she wasn't looking, then headed off back to the TARDIS.

She didn't expect them to ever talk of what had happened, but mere hours later when Mels lay sprawled across her bed writing down the day's events in her diary she heard a light knock on the door and the Doctor walk in.

"Mels," he asked, stepping toward her nervously, his hands clasped in one another, wringing his fingers, "Can we talk about what happened earlier- the kissing... thing?" He seemed to take her shrug as a yes and sat down on the edge of the bed, "I just thought I should make sure that, that... that everything is clear between us and... well, you're human. I'm a Time Lord, and, well, I'm over 900 years old-"

Mels laughed lightly, "Amy said you did that," she told him, not looking up from her writing, "like it matters,"

She could hear him swallow thickly, and stumble over his words, "What, er, what exactly did you want to come of..." he scratched at his cheek and swallowed again, "of what happened?"

Mels finished a sentence and snapped her notebook shut, "Are you asking me for a shag, Doctor?" she smirked,

She saw his eyes bulge and his whole face flush in embarrassment, "I -" he stopped, his eyes having caught sight of her book, "I... What is that?"

"My diary," Mels shrugged, picking it up and offering it to him to look at, "I decided I would keep one my first day here. Found this."

"Where?" he asked, his eyes snapping from the book to her, "Where did you find it?"

Mels sat up with a confused frown, "On my bedside table. The TARDIS made it for me."

The Doctor traced his hands across the embossed blue leather and lifted the book to his face, smelling it and turning it over in his hands, letting it fall open. He flicked through the crisp white pages then opened it to the front cover, his eyes flicking over the neatly penned in name. Mels had written it in the language of the Gamma Forests, spending a lot more time than strictly necessary to draw out the foreign letters of her name perfectly. Before her she watched them translate into English, Song River, like that young Gamma girl had called her, and the Doctor traced them with his finger tip.

"What is it Doctor?" she asked, "Does it matter?"

The Doctor snapped the book shut quickly and Mels jumped. He smiled at her; the sort of smile she had come to learn meant he was trying to figure out a puzzle inside his head. "No," he lied, passing the diary back to her and standing, "Doesn't mean a thing,"

**tbc...**


	6. Chapter 6

_Once again, thank you to Charina for beta-ing this entire fic because she's awesome._

**Chapter 6**

"Apalapucia!" The Doctor exclaimed, spinning around a bleary eyed Mels with far too much energy for her to cope with this soon after waking, "Voted number two planet in the top ten greatest destinations for the discerning intergalactic traveller."

"Number two?" She asked, sipping a cup of coffee and eyeing the Doctor's energetic form warily,

"Oh everyone goes to number one. It's hideous! Planet of the coffee shops." He wrinkled his nose depreciatively at her steaming mug, "No! _Apalapucia!_ I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades!"

"Are you taking me on a date Doctor?" Mels smirked,

He blushed bright red, "What would give you that idea?" he asked, swallowing and turning away from her, pulling levers and typing in co-ordinates, piloting the TARDIS through the vortex to Apalapucia.

"Sunsets..." Mels smirked, stepping around to stand next to the Doctor, leaning in slightly, "Spires... _Soaring silver colonnades_... Rather romantic, don't you think?"

"Yes well," He pulled at his bowtie and stepped back, away from her, "I thought it would be a nice change from all the running and the monsters and the destruction. We could go to Space Florida, if you'd prefer, or Midnight, a planet literally made of diamond, although I did have a spot of bother there..."

Mels laughed and set off down the steps again, "Oh no you don't, Doctor," she said, "I was promised sunsets,"

The Doctor sniffed and straighten his jacket with a shy smile, before bounding down the steps to the TARDIS doors, grabbing Mels' hand as he passed and pulling her along, "Yes you were," he agreed, "Apalapucia!" He threw the blue doors wide, expecting to present her with the spires and soaring silver colonnades he'd mentioned, but instead being faced with a white room and a door with odd resemblance of a lift, directly opposite them.

"Where are we really?" Mels asked, stepping out and looking at the white walls and ceiling,

"A doorway away from sunsets and spires and soaring silver colonnades," The Doctor told her, walking across the white floor to the doors,

"And how do we reach them?" Mels asked, her eyebrows raised.

On instinct she reached out and pressed one of the two buttons by the side of the doors, and they opened to reveal another white room, this one with a table in the middle, a large magnifying glass sat on top of it.

"Okay, so," the Doctor said, "Rain check on the soaring silver colonnades."

They stepped in, looking around curiously. Directly opposite the door they came through, was another, which opened to reveal a robot with a faceless head and real hands.

The Doctor beamed, "Hands! Hello hands. Hand-bot with hands, Mels."

"Welcome to the Two Streams Facility." The Hand-bot asked in a smooth automated voice, "Will you be visiting long?"

Mels stared at it, "Are those real hands?" she asked.

"Organic skin," The Doctor explained, "Ultimate universal interface, grown and grafted, not born. It's actually seeing with its fingers, scanning the room. But why not give it eyes?"

"Will you be visiting long?" It repeated, "Apalapucia is under planet-wide quarantine. This is a kindness facility for those infected with Chen-7."

The Doctor immediately covered his nose and mouth with his coat, "What?"

"What's Chen-7?" Mels asked him, covering her nose and mouth with her arm.

"The one day plague."

"What? You get it, and die in a day?" the Doctor just nodded, his eyes wide, Mels stared at him, "So let's get back to the TARDIS!" She grabbed him by the back of his coat and pushed him across the white floor ahead of her, towards the door. He scrambled for the button and once it opened, flew through it to the TARDIS.

Mels followed him in and shut the doors, "Are we safe?" she asked,

"You are," The Doctor told her, "Chen-7 only affects two-hearted races, like Apalapucians. Humans are immune." He ran to the TARDIS console, "I just need to check I wasn't exposed to it," he began to set scans over himself and the white rooms outside, not noticing Mels' sitting down with a worried expression, her cheeks paler than usual, her bottom lip being pulled between her teeth.

"Oh good," he sighed, "I'm safe."

"And me?"

He turned to her with a frown, "Humans are immune, I said. Chen-7 only affects-"

"Doctor," Mels cut over the top of him, "Doctor I have two hearts."

He gaped at her, barely able to comprehend that information, "The uh, rooms..." he said slowly, "Sterile areas." he said, "You're... You're safe."

Suddenly he jumped over to her, "How can you have two hearts?" he asked, his sonic screwdriver in hand, glowing green and buzzing as he scanned her, "Initial scans say you're human. Human DNA." He hit the sonic against his hand and scanned her again, "No, Human-_plus_. That's ridiculous, what's Human-plus supposed to be? There's no such thing as Human-_plus_," he hit the sonic again and groaned, "Tell me about your parents!" he demanded Mels suddenly, "Are they human? Both of them? Are you one hundred percent sure?"

"What? Of course they're human," Mels frowned.

"Tell me, tell me everything you know about them. What am I talking about, we could go and get them, scan them, be double sure,"

"No!" Mels reached out and grabbed the Doctor before he attempted to track her parents down, "My parents are definitely human. _I'm _human."

The Doctor stared at her, "You have two hearts- your DNA, it's morphed, you're a _hybrid_. Human plus _something_. Something big, Mels, something big and powerful and ..._Time Lord_."

Mels barely had time to respond when the Doctor was grabbing the TARDIS scanner and typing away at the typewriter embedded in the console, she looked over his shoulder and saw he was scanning her, looking at her genetic makeup, her DNA. "How," he murmured, "How is that _possible_?"

"Doctor?"

He turned to her, staring at her, "You're," he gaped, "You're part _Time Lord_. Human plus Time Lord... But," He leaned in and pressed his ear to Mels chest, over her right side, listening to her second heart beat, "If you have two hearts, that means you've regenerated," He straightened up, "You can regenerate, you have regenerated, when? How many times? How old are you? Oh who cares, you _can_!" He spun her around beaming madly, "Another living Time Lord Mels! We could travel for years, _lifetimes_! You and me, Mels, and all of time and space, you watch us run," And suddenly he stopped dancing her around the console, one of his hands burying under her loose black hair and cupping the back of her head, the other entwining around her back, pulling her in and kissing her.

Mels closed her eyes and moaned; her mind was racing at a hundred miles a second, remembering all the books she had read on his kind and watching as it all fell into place, wondering how she hadn't made the connection before. Her hands gripped at the Doctor's tweed lapels tightly, pulling him closer so he pressed her against the main console and held her closer still. She sighed against his lips, letting her hands slip under his tweed and take hold of his braces, running down their length and twisting them in her hands as she pulled him against her.

His hand ran from her back, over her hip and along her thigh, pulling her leg up and around his hip as his tongue sought hers, their teeth clashing in a passionate battle. The shrill ring of the phone filled the air and the Doctor groaned into Mels' mouth, his hips pressing roughly against hers as he leant across her and the console to grab the receiver, "Yes, what?" he demanded down the phone, his eyes dark and boring into Mels' dangerously.

"Doctor?" Amy's voice echoed slightly from the phone, her voice was choked, like she was crying, or had been minutes ago, "I didn't know who else to call."

The Doctor straightened up, giving Mels a soft apologetic look, his thumb brushing lightly over her cheek, "Amy? What is it? What's happened?"

"It's Melody," Amy said through fresh tears, "She's gone."

**tbc**


	7. Chapter 7

_Another big thank you to Charina for being such a fabulous friend and beta :)_

**Chapter 7**

The Doctor hung up with a promise to get there as soon as he could, and within seconds he was rushing madly about the console, piloting them to Leadworth. He landed them with a rushed flourish and turned to Mels, "I," he wasn't sure exactly what to say.

Mels offered him a soft, understanding smile, "We should get to Amy," she said.

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, Pond." He turned to run down the steps, then seemed to change his mind, turning back again, "We will talk about the, uh," he made a kissing face, "won't we?"

But Mels didn't get a chance to answer, because at that moment the TARDIS doors burst open and Amy ran in, her eyes puffy and bloodshot, her cheeks streaked with dried tears, "Doctor!" she ran into his arms and began to cry into his shoulder.

"Amy," he wrapped his arms around her, "What happened, Amy? Tell me,"

"I don't know," Amy pulled away and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, "We were in the park, the three of us, and Melody was lying on the grass, Rory and I started to talk... We took our eyes of her. She's only seven Doctor, and we didn't watch her."

"You can't blame yourself for this Amelia," The Doctor told her gently.

Amy nodded, blowing her nose in a hanky, "We looked back and she was just gone. She just vanished, Doctor."

Mels watched as Amy -who after all these years was finally the mother she remembered- broke down and realised she had never really thought about how her disappearance would affect them, her parents. She tried to tell herself if had been because she knew she'd come back to find them again, but even now as her mother sobbed right in front of her, Mels found she couldn't find her tongue, her nerve to speak up and explain to them all who she was, and what had happened to little Melody Pond.

They wouldn't want her, their troublesome best friend who stole a bus and drove it through the botanical gardens, who ran off with the Doctor and left them without even visiting for seven and a half years. They would want little Melody, the small seven year old girl with mousey brown hair and pale as snow skin.

When her father walked in Mels had the urge to run. To push past them all, find a car and drive away. But she didn't. Instead she stepped slowly forward, and pulled Rory into a hug.

He returned it with some confusion; Mels had never been one for hugs. Perhaps because Melody had been and she's missed them so terribly in those six months before she died in New York. Regardless Mels hugged her father now. She could smell the park on him, smell his cologne, and it was like something clicked in her head, because suddenly she wanted to cry.

She had them back.

"This is my fault," Rory whispered, "Amy and I were fighting last night, she heard us. Oh God, I drove away. This is my fault, I drove away. She must have thought we were splitting up and now she's run off on her own and it's my fault."

Mels held him tighter, "It's not anyone's fault Rory." she murmured, "I promise."

"Right then!" The Doctor announced, pulling back from Amy's grasp, "Melody Pond, your daughter, let's find her,"

They spent the day searching. Asked eye witnesses what they'd seen, investigated for residue energy left by some form of teleportation, knocked on doors and showed photographs to passersby. The whole thing was pointless and only resulted in making Amy and Rory fear the very worse and fill Mels with complete and utter guilt. At the end of the day she retreated from Amy and Rory's house, where her parents had retired to bed, both emotionally numb over the disappearance of their daughter.

Being in the TARDIS did nothing to improve her mood, she had a feeling the ship disapproved of her behaviour, "Well what do you expect me to do?" she asked the machine indignantly, "I can't tell them, I don't even know what happened,"

She walked purposely through the winding corridors to her room and pulled out her diary, flopping on the bed and flicking to a blank page.

"What do you know?"

Mels jumped and saw the Doctor leaning against the door frame, his hands in his trouser pockets, watching her with a look that dared her to lie to him.

"I don't know what you mean,"

The Doctor walked forwards and bent down into her personal space, his face inches from hers as he growled dangerously, "You know something. You've been lying and stepping back from this all day. _What _do you know?"

Mels stood her ground, looking him in the eye, "You haven't figured it out yet?" She jibed, "And I thought you were supposed to be some sort of alien genius."

He glared down at her, "Tell me what you know."

Mels looked at him silently, then blinked and pulled back, opening her diary to the front cover and shoving it in his face, "There." she supplied, glaring at him as he frowned down at her handwriting,

"Song River," he read, "What about it?"

"It's my name,"

"Yes I know it's your name," he snapped, "What has that got to do with anything?"

Mels groaned, "Song River!" she yelled, "Song River," she closed her eyes in her anger, trying to calm herself down, taking slow, deep breathes, before saying it again, but this time in the language of the Gamma Forests, as it was written, "That's my name Doctor. My _full_ name. Song River..."

"Melody Pond."

They stood in silence, staring at each other, and slowly, Mels nodded.

"You're Melody?" he stepped forward, cupped her cheek, "Melody Pond?"

"Yes."

He looked so worried, so concerned, and it was aimed at her. Like he was afraid she was going to break. Like he was afraid things were ruined between them. "What happened?" he asked,

"I was in the park," And so she told him, they sat down on her bed and she told him everything, only pausing to ask him questions about why she didn't age, or how she had suddenly aged when she found Amelia, "When Amy told me she was pregnant, I knew I couldn't hang around."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Mels looked at him carefully, "Would you have believed me, Doctor? I don't even know how it all happened; I didn't even know I wasn't human until today."

The Doctor leant forward and kissed her, his lips soft against hers, "We have to tell them."

Suddenly Mels felt like she was seven years old again, lost and confused, tears threatening to swell in her eyes as a lump formed in her throat. She would break their hearts.

Melody opened her mouth and uttered one word, her low voice quavering uncertainly as she did, "How?"

The Doctor let out a sigh and closed his eyes, pulling her close and pressing his lips to her forehead, "Oh Melody," He whispered, "I have absolutely no idea."

**tbc**


	8. Chapter 8

_Thanks to my beta, Charina, she was amazing during the writing process and then edited it all at once because she's amazing like that :P_**  
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**Chapter 8**

When Amy stumbled into the kitchen the next morning, it was to find Rory fidgeting, pacing, rolling his mobile between his palms and taking deep shaking breaths, trying to stay calm. The Doctor sat at the table eating a Jammy Dodger, a frame of Melody's latest school picture in his hands, looking down at it curiously then looking to Mels who was by the open window, smoking a cigarette and murmuring unintelligibly under her breath, her eyes closed.

The Doctor spotted her, and placed the frame on the table, standing and walking over to hug her and sit her down. He gave Mels a look, and then flicked his eyes to Rory before back to Amy.

"Tea?" He murmured softly and numbly, Amy nodded.

Mels had snapped her eyes open at the broken silence and watched as the Doctor made four mugs of tea, setting them all on the table. He looked at her, an odd expression of his face. It was expectant, asking her to join them at the table, but also apologetic. Sympathetic. She dragged on her cigarette then put it out in the corner of the windowsill, throwing it out the window into the garden before moving to the table and sitting down. Rory looked over and quickly sat next to Amy, taking her hand and squeezing it.

Under the table the Doctor took Mels hand, mimicking Rory's actions. Mels pulled away, reaching into her pocket to pull out a piece of paper, placing it on the table and sliding it across to her parents.

Amy looked down at it curiously, "What's this?" Her voice was rough. Thick and broken, she must have cried herself to sleep. Cried herself awake.

Mels licked her lips, "It's my name," she murmured softly, "In the language of the uh, the Gamma Forests. We," she swallowed, "We saved this girl there, and I've always been good at languages, so I uh, taught, myself..." Mels cleared her throat, "The TARDIS will translate it for you, but it might take a second, it takes longer to translate a written word."

Rory let his gaze find the swirling letters written on the paper, and before them all they changed, _Song River_, Rory spoke them aloud softly, confused, "Song?" he asked,

"They, uh, don't have a word for... for Melody." She told them, "And River, is uh, well the only water in the Forests is the river. They don't have oceans or lakes or... or ponds."

Amy frowned at her, not following and Mels glanced at the Doctor who again took her hand under the table. "When I was seven," she told them, "I was at the park with my parents. I was lying on the grass and closed my eyes. I could hear some boys playing football, and my parents kissing. They had had a fight about me the previous night, but they had made up, like they always did, and I was happy."

"What are you talking about?" Rory asked her, "Why are you telling us this?"

Mels swallowed, "The Doctor says that I was exposed to the Time Vortex during my conception and that made me... Time Lord. Or partly at least. Enough that six months after that day in the park when I opened my eyes to find myself in New York City, in 1969; when I was dying, I was able to regenerate."

"I don't understand." Amy demanded, angry tears in her eyes, "What has this got to do with anything?"

Mels gripped tightly onto the Doctor's hand and he cut in, "Mels was sent forty-nine years into her past, and lived through from then to 2011, when she started travelling with me."

Before either of her parents could deny what they were telling them Mels opened her mouth and spoke, "You were fighting about me. That I was only seven. You wanted me to see the Doctor and I thought I was sick." she recounted softly, "Rory drove away and Amy cried again, then came up to my room and I pretended to sleep. Next morning we had pancakes for breakfast and I asked about going to see a doctor. We went to the park, and there was a dog, and boys playing football. I spun around as fast as I could until I fell to the grass and closed my eyes. You said I love you and kissed and I was happy everything was okay again. I felt at home." Mels wiped away her silent tears, unable to look up and meet either Amy or Rory's eyes. "I started to think about my dreams, the corridors and coral drawings I made. They were of the TARDIS, I realise that now. They scared you. That's why you would fight. But then I was in New York and I had to live by myself for twenty-eight years until I found you, told you my name was Mels. I never told you my real last name."

Silence hung in the air, and for minutes that dragged on like years, Amy and Rory stared at Mels. And Mels sat in tears, something they couldn't remember ever seeing before, the Doctor watching them all with old and sad eyes, his hand still held tight in Mels'.

Amy was the first to break it, scrapping her chair across the kitchen floor and standing so quick it fell over, cluttering loudly to the floor as she ran out. Mels watched her go and felt her entire body ache. She could hear Amy sobbing, but then felt a warm and familiar hand rubbing circles on her back and looked up to see Rory staring down at her, tears in his eyes, and she realised the sobs were coming from her.

He hugged her, "All this time?" he murmured, "All this time you've known us, and you're our Melody? Our daughter?"

Mels nodded, "Should- I should just go." she told him, "Amy doesn't want me, you don't, I get it." she tried to stand, but Rory had a firm hand on her shoulder,

"You leave now and you'll break our hearts a second time." he murmured,

Mels smiled weakly at him, "You're sweet, but, she doesn't want me. She wants her daughter."

"You _are_ our daughter." Rory smoothed back her hair, "I don't care how bizarre this is, or different you've become. I know you're telling the truth, I know you're my Melody, I can feel it. And I'm so glad to have you back."

**tbc**


	9. Chapter 9

_Huge thank you to Charina for being an amazing beta._**  
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**Chapter 9**

Amy refused to come out of her room. She wouldn't talk to anyone, or accept food; she just hid away, trying to come to terms with the situation. Rory had taken the revelation much easier and sat with the Doctor, now worried for his wife. Mels could hear them talking down the hall, murmuring about her and Amy. It was odd. Rory was worried for Amy, she was too, she had taken to sitting outside her mother's room, leaning against the door, waiting, but they... They seemed worried about her too.

It wasn't that that confused her; it was the way they worried. Rory was worried about her as her father, but the Doctor, he seemed worried about her in the same way Rory was about Amy.

"What are we going to tell people?" Rory was asking the Doctor softly, "People know she went missing, how are we going to explain not getting her back?"

The Doctor sniffed, "I suppose, it's not the most favourable course of action, but I can, er... repress, uh, lock those memories. People won't remember she disappeared, and you could move or," he swallowed, "Obviously there are going to be questions. I can call an old friend of mine, a few actually. Torchwood can sort this out no questions asked, but last I saw of their team leader... well, UNIT may be the better option."

"What will they do?"

"Forge paperwork," he shrugged, "Destroy paper trials,"

"You mean..." Rory's tone was conflicted, and Mels sighed sadly at the sound, "They'll make up records of her disappearance and death, or they'll delete records and make it like she never existed?"

There was a short pause before the Doctor answered, "Yes, Rory. I'm sorry."

They fell into silence again, and for a long moment Mels closed her eyes and allowed herself to listen to her parents breathing. To smell the familiar perfume and cologne that hung in the air all through the house. To imagine she was still a child, and nothing more had happened than another disagreement over her drawings.

"Does it hurt?"

The Doctor seemed to be quiet as confused as Mels was at her father's question, "Hurt?"

"Regenerating. She's obviously done it. Does it... Did it hurt?"

"I..." The Doctor let out a breath, "Regeneration is a tricky thing, Rory, it can be different every time, I mean-"

"_Doctor._ She's my daughter. I need to know. Did it hurt her?"

Mels heard the Doctor sniff and could picture him pulling at his bowtie awkwardly, "Yes." he said, "I think it probably did."

Rory let out a long slow breath, "I can't believe this," he murmured, "I'm supposed to protect her, I'm her father, I should have been there. God, I should be helping her with her homework and trying to figure out how to pay for her to go to a better school, sign her up for dance classes or gymnastics to help her make some friends. Instead... 1969, how old does that make her?"

"Forty-nine."

"She's twenty years older than me." He said, "My daughter is twenty years older than me... How did this happen? How did she just close her eyes and jump fifty years into the past?"

"I was with a friend once," the Doctor said softly, "Martha Jones her name was, and one day we blinked..." He sighed and Mels heard him shuffling his feet, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "There are these creatures, Rory, as old as the universe. The lonely assassins. Creatures of abstract, they feed off potential energy, the days you might have had, stolen moments in life. They let you live to death."

"Let you live to death?" Rory questioned,

"Send you into the past. The rest of your life is used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you kindly. Amy might have told you about them. We ran into a few, on the first planet I ever took her to. The Weeping Angels. Fascinating biology. They're quantum-locked; the most perfect defence system ever evolved. They don't exist when being observed; if ever they're seen by any other living creature they freeze into rock. In the sight of any living thing they become stone."

"Why do you think it's them?"

The Doctor let Rory think that through for a moment before murmuring, "You know the answer to that, Rory, you said it before. 'How did she just close her eyes and jump fifty years into the past'. Someone looked at a stone statue they had never noticed before. And a stone can't kill you, just as you can't kill a stone, but then you turn you head away, then you blink."

Rory sighed, Mels heard him begin to pace again, "So what happens now?" he asked, "After UNIT sorts this all out, does Mels stay? I- I don't want to miss out on more of her life but Amy..." just then the bedroom door Mels leant against opened, and she fell backwards at her mother's feet,

Amy offered her hand, which Mels accepted, pulling herself up to stand. Neither of them said anything. Amy stepped passed her and walked down the hall toward the Doctor and Rory, Mels watched her go, wondering how this would go.

"She'll come around, you know."

Mels started at the soft voice and saw the Doctor walking through the door Amy had just left from, "You think?" she asked, "I wouldn't be surprised if she walked back in here and kicked me back to the TARDIS."

"Melody," the Doctor sighed and walked to her, pulling her into his arms, a hug she returned, "She's your mother, and she loves you."

"She doesn't want me,"

The Doctor reached down and cupped her cheek, making Mels look him in the eye, "She just asked if she and Rory could come with us."

Mels stared at him, a small frown forming on her face, making the Doctor chuckle, and lean down to kiss her softly, "They love you Melody, they're just happy you're safe." He kissed her again, his tongue running over her bottom lip, then sliding to meet hers, making her moan slightly, her hands gripping the back of his tweed jacket before she pulled back with the faintest of smiles,

"Don't let Dad see you doing that," she murmured, "I hear he's good with a sword."

**tbc...**


	10. Chapter 10

_Thanks to my beautiful beta, Charina :) x_

**Chapter 10**

Having Amy and Rory on the TARDIS changed the way the Doctor behaved around her and Mels found she rather missed how it used to be. All the flirting and teasing, his hand holding her own, or cupping her cheek, smoothing back her hair, resting on her knee or the small of her back. The stolen kisses they never spoke about. It was like it was all forgotten somehow. Even when Amy and Rory slept and she was alone with the Doctor it wasn't the same.

They still spent the time together, Mels wrote in her diary, curled up on one of the armchairs in the library while the Doctor read, or on the stairs under the console as he tinkered with the TARDIS. Sometimes they went out on their own, he took her to parties, planets, spaceships. With him she met historical figures of past, present and future. They saved kingdoms and families and it was still all so amazing to her, but she missed the way he would kiss her after a close brush with danger and hold her hand when she was unsure or angry.

It was strange how accustomed she had become to those small touches, she had barely even noticed them before but now they were gone she missed them terribly. _Needed _them almost. Mels had never needed anything before, not of that nature.

Rory asked her a few days after he and Amy joined the TARDIS if Mels would call him Dad when they were aboard the TARDIS or alone and in return he and the Doctor both started referring to her solely as Melody. Amy however insisted on calling her Mels and her jaw would clench every time it someone referred to either Rory or herself as Mels' parents. Melody didn't mind too much that her mother still thought of her as a childhood friend rather than her daughter, but once, she accidentally called her Mum and Amy froze, dropping a glass that shattered across the kitchen floor. That stung.

"She'll come around," the Doctor kept telling her, "She's your mother, Melody. She loves you."

He said it so often it rather lost meaning. But Mels never told him that, because whenever he did he'd reach out and brush back her hair, or squeeze her shoulder. Something. It made her bite her lip and hold back a smile, even blush. She sort of hated that; she was above such feelings, or at least she used to be. She should not be brought to such girlish, such _human_ (she thought almost gleefully), actions from a simple brush of his fingers or that stupid smile he always had plastered across his face. Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to slap that grin from him.

Mostly it just made her want to snog him.

She never did, and neither did he, though she knew he wanted to; he often stared at her lips when he thought no-one would notice. He was often wrong about that though, because not only had she noticed, but Rory had dragged her aside one day and asked if she and the Doctor were sleeping together.

"Does it matter?" she had asked with raised eyebrows,

"You're my daughter," he said, "and you know what happened between him and A- and your mother."

Mels laughed, "You mean him rejecting her because she's Amy and human and will always be seven in his eyes?"

Rory groaned, "I know... I know you're old enough to make these choices on your own and you know to be careful and how to take care of yourself. But you're my daughter Melody, my little girl and I don't want you getting hurt."

Mels smiled, "You know me Dad. I'm not a relationship kind of girl."

"Yes, I know a little too much, if I think about it. You told Amy and I every detail about that first time."

"You asked for them," Mels shrugged, "If it makes you feel better, I wasn't fifteen like you and Amy were at the time. I was-"

"Forty-two." Rory finished, frowning a bit, "I suppose that does make me feel a bit better." He smiled.

Mels smiled back at him, Rory was an amazing Dad. She loved him terribly but just couldn't bring herself to show it like she used to, because if she didn't say it and didn't show it, she could convince herself she didn't feel it at all if ever she was separated from him again. Briefly she wondered if Amy thought the same about her, but she pushed the thought away whenever it came.

Rory never brought up her relationship with the Doctor again after their talk, but Mels caught him sometimes smiling at the way the Doctor smiled at her, like it was special or different but she didn't fool herself into thinking it was. That man was hundreds of years old, so many people would have touched his hearts in that time, she was surely nothing more than a blip on his radar in comparison.

Today he had taken them to a market place on Shan Shen, warning them of the Trickster Brigade and sharing the seemingly Chinese culture with the fascinated Ponds. He let them wander off to investigate the many stalls as he haggled over the price of various gadgets he could use when rewiring bits and pieces of the TARDIS. After walking all day and visiting every stall Amy announced her feet were sore, and Rory, who had been bundled with all their purchases, was quick to suggest they head back to the ship and rest their legs.

They turned back and made the long walk along to the TARDIS, which, once in sight, Rory rushed to, dropping the many bags and packages in the door way before turning back to see where his wife and daughter had gotten too. He closed the blue doors behind him and strolled back down the busy market place, stepping in line with his wife and paying no notice to the Crespallion man arguing ahead with a stall owner who seemed to be accusing the blue man of thievery.

The Crespallion, far from his own land, lost, poor, and most likely starving, pulled a gun on the angry stall owner. Mels noticed the blue being was unfamiliar with the weapon, uncomfortable with it in his grasp, something the stall owner seemed to notice too. Within a second the two men were fighting, the gun high in the air as the stall owner forced the blue man's arm up. They struggled and fell into the stall, strange fruits and foods spilling to the ground and the gun swinging through the air, both men's hands grasping it as it came to point at Amy.

Mels knew what was going to happen two seconds before it did. Vaguely, she heard her own yell of her mother's name as she jumped in front of the Scottish woman and felt the bullet hit her flesh with an explosion of sound.

In the struggle the gun had fired and Mels fell into her mother's arms, white hot pain burning in her chest as blood rushed down her front. Everyone froze, the two fighting men staring, terrified at what they'd done. Rory rushed to help Amy pull Mels along the market place, the short distance to the TARDIS and lay her gently on the floor, her head settling in her mother's lap.

"We've got to stop the bleeding," he said, pulling off his coat and pressing it against her chest, "Keep her conscious,"

Mels swore at the pain, only worsened by the pressure Rory was applying to her wound, "Sorry, sorry," he told her, "Stay with us Melody,"

She could feel Amy's hands running through her hair, her gaze moved from Rory to her mother and Mels saw Amy had tears in her eyes. She smiled hesitantly up at her, "Alright, Amy?" she asked, her voice weak from the strain of breathing,

"You shouldn't have done that," Amy told her,

"And lose you?" Mels asked, "Not doing that again." She gasped in pain, her eyes squeezing shut, "Where is he?" she asked, "I need to..."

"Who?"

Rory looked wide eyed at his daughter, and then turned to the door yelling out, "_Doctor!_"

"Yes Mr Pond?" The Doctor exclaimed, coming in the door wearing a multi-coloured hat decorated with bells, and a rather intricate something with flashing lights and many tangled wires in his hands.

He stopped mid bounding step and stared at the sight before him, all the happy smiles and rosy cheeks slipping from his face before he jumped into action and threw the hat and unnamed device to the floor, running up the steps, sonic in hand, "What happened?" he demanded of them, scanning over Mels with the sonic and dropping to his knees at her side, she reached out and grabbed his hand in a shockingly tight grip,

Mels didn't listen as Amy and Rory told him, speaking over each other in panicked voices, how she had been injured, "I used to dream about you," she told him, her breathing uneven and shallow, "All my life, they would fight over it... And all those stories Amy used to tell me, when we were... little," she smiled through the pain, "I was going to marry you,"

"Good idea," The Doctor told her, a smile on his face but his eyes alight with panic and worry, "Let's get married; you get better and I'll marry you, deal?"

She smiled sadly at him, her hand leaving his and reaching heavily for his neck, "Not going to happen," she murmured softly, pulling him down and kissing him softly, her eyes falling closed as she felt her skin dancing, like she had pins and needles all across her body.

"What the hell's going on?" demanded Rory, and when the Doctor pulled back from Mels' kiss she saw her hands were glowing gold,

"Back, back, back, get back!" Yelled the Doctor, standing and pulling Rory with him,

Mels stood, all the pain from her chest had gone and she looked down at her hands, "Last time I did this I had no idea what it meant," she murmured, her breathing even again, "It was fantastic,"

"Okay Doctor, explain what is happening, _now_!" Amy demanded, still sat on the floor and staring at Mels,

"Oh shut up, Mum," Mels told her, "I'm focusing on a dress size," and her body exploded in pain, the fire burning so brightly and she yelled, unable to laugh like she had as a child in the face of this unbearable pain, her eyes scrunched shut, her head thrown back, her arms wide.

It was over with a gasp and she felt her head fly forward at the sudden loss of energy, "Oh!" she breathed, "phew," she shivered a bit, stretching her new neck before speaking in her new voice, "Right. Let's see then,"

**tbc...**


	11. Chapter 11

_sorry for the longer than usual wait :) hope it's worth it, lol._

_Big thank you to my beta, Charina. And wow, this is almost the end of this story guys. Only the epilogue to go._

**Chapter 11**

Melody looked at herself. She could see down the front of her dress and smiled, running her hands over her stomach to the tops of her thighs, "Oh it's all going on down there, isn't it?" She smirked, and her hands reached up to her head.

Soft curls met her fingers and she gasped, letting them explore as she exclaimed, "The hair!" and she ran to the blank scanner, taking in her new reflection, "Oh the hair, it just doesn't stop, does it? Look at that! _Everything _changes! Oh, but I love it, I _love_ it!" She swung around to face her parents, "I'm all sort of... _mature._" She eyed the Doctor with a smirk, "_Hello Benjamin,_" she laughed and ran over to the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "Forgive me you lot, but there's something I need to check."

"Wait!" Yelled Amy, "Where are you going?"

"New body, new style," Melody beamed, "I need a new wardrobe." and off she went down the winding corridors until she found herself in the wardrobe and was free to strip herself of Mels' old clothes,

"Oh that's _magnificent_!" she enthused, watching herself in the mirror, and turning, checking herself out from every angle,

Ten minutes later when the Doctor stepped slowly into the room Melody was decked out in a pair of black jodhpurs, a satin slip and an old military coat, she smiled at herself and spoke idly to the Doctor, "Regeneration. It's a _whole_ new colouring to work with."

He smiled faintly and walked into the room, "Your parents are worried about you,"

"And why should they be, Dear?"

"They're your parents, that's what parents do." He stepped close behind her, "I must say you're right about the hair," He pulled a strand and watched it spring back into place with a giddy smile, "You're amazing, you know River?"

"River?"

"Melody," he corrected, "Sorry."

"No, River, I like that." Melody smiled and turned, stepping so close to the Doctor their chests brushed together, "_River Song_."

"Lovely name," he smiled,

Melody laughed, "Stupid name, really. But _River Song_, oh, doesn't it make your blood boil Doctor?"

"More than you know."

She grinned up at him, "Oh Sweetie, tell me more,"

He chuckled, reaching a hand out to cup the back of her neck, his fingertips brushing against her soft curls. "Spoilers."

"Spoilers?" Melody frowned, "What spoilers?"

The Doctor just smiled at her, his thumb running lightly over her cheek, and then he bounded back, turning on the spot, looking wildly around the wardrobe. He beamed at Melody, clapping his hands together excitedly.

"Come on! Get dressed, we have ten minutes,"

Melody smirked, stepping forward again, back into his personal space, "That's so close to the perfect sentence," She murmured in a low voice, "Where are you taking me?"

"Dinner," The Doctor smiled boyishly, "A ball, dress appropriately,"

"Are we celebrating something, Doctor? Or are you finally taking me on that date?"

The Doctor's hand reached out and one of his fingers tapped the tip of her nose with a smile, "Both,"

Melody let her hands run up, along the Doctor's chest, her arms linking lazily around his neck, she lent her head up, their lips barely two centimetres apart, "And what are we celebrating?"

He let out a small chuckle, dipping his head down whispering against her ear, "You thought I wouldn't know?"

"_Mmm_, know what?"

Melody felt goose bumps rise on her arms and neck as the Doctor smiled against her skin, "Your birthday."

Melody pulled back slightly, "How did you know about that?"

The Doctor laughed, stepping from her arms once more, "I'm a Time Lord." he told her, "I see timelines like a map in my head,"

She beamed suddenly, "So do I," and with a mischievous flash of her eyes she let the military coat fall to the floor and peeled the black slip off over her head.

"_River!_" The Doctor's eyes bulged brilliantly, noticing immediately Melody's lack of undergarments,

"Yes, Sweetie?" she asked stripping the jodhpurs from her legs so she stood before him completely naked,

"You're _undressing_."

"You told me to," She smirked, "And from the way you're staring, you don't seem to mind too much."

The Doctor slapped a hand over his eyes and Melody laughed, moving through the large wardrobe, calling out, "What century are you taking me to, Sweetie?"

"Early 18th century, London." He told her, peeking through a crack in his fingers, "And dress to impress."

"I always do."

Melody left to find herself authentic to the era clothing, and when she returned to the Doctor's sights, demanded he help her get into her corset, making him blush as red as the bowtie around his neck. Once Melody was dressed and ready she watched the Doctor as he -still blushing brilliantly- also dressed in time appropriate clothes.

Together they walked arm in arm through the TARDIS corridors to the control room, where Rory and Amy already stood, the two of them dressed to the nines of 1722 fashion. Melody raised her eyebrows at the Doctor, who shrugged somewhat sheepishly. Their first date, and he invited her parents.

Melody rolled her eyes, she couldn't help but find his naivety endearing.

He made up for it. The ball he took them to was completely enrapturing, the gorgeous detail in the building and dress of the other guests, the awing music that played and all around them the upper class danced and danced, stepping and spinning in complete unison. It was breath taking.

He was quick to join step into the dance, Melody with him and without second thought they both fell into place, dancing with everyone else. They danced and ate and laughed and mingled, for hours and hours, having simply the best of times, the best of birthdays.

Eventually, when all four were completely exhausted, they fell back into the TARDIS, Amy immediately pulling off her shoes and collapsing in the closest jump seat. The Doctor bounded up the steps with all the energy of a five year old and Melody followed him slowly.

Once they were sent safely back into the Vortex, Melody grabbed hold of the Doctor's hand, knowing her curious parents were pretending not to watch. She didn't care, and lent in to brush her lips over his cheek, pulling back half a fraction to whisper against his ear, "Thank you,"

He smiled softly, "Happy Birthday,"

"We should have a cake," Rory announced, breaking the sweet moment.

Amy rolled her eyes, "After that bloody _feast_ I don't think I could eat another bit of anything." she complained, "I can barely breathe as it is." Her eyes caught sight of Melody and she smiled, "But, I suppose we could sing."

"Without a cake?" Exclaimed the Doctor as next to him Melody frowned in confusion, Amy just smiled.

"Well it's not every day your baby turns fifty, is it?"

The blonde almost cried. _Her_ baby. _Amy's_ baby. Melody felt full, complete, after being empty for so long. She wanted to laugh and weep and fling herself at Amy and never let go. Instead she just hugged the Scottish woman, tears in her eyes, and felt, with a great flip of happiness, Amy hug her back.

"Happy birthday, Melody,"

Melody smiled. She was so happy, so grateful, to finally, after so many years, have her Mummy back.

**tbc...**


	12. Epilogue

_So this is it, thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed this story. And for the final time, thanks to Charina for being my amazing beta reader :)_

**Epilogue**

After all going off, Amy and Rory to bed, Melody to shower and the Doctor to change back into his usual tweed, the TARDIS fell oddly quiet.

Melody took her time in the shower, getting to know her new body, so different to her last. Her fingers and hands danced over her toned legs from toe to thigh, then across her hips, her stomach, waist, breasts and chest, before reaching her wet curls. As glorious as this body was, Melody had a feeling it would take a bit of getting used to. A bit of hard work.

Especially the hair.

Still, the Doctor had seemed to like it earlier. Like her. Melody smiled to herself, her hand wandering down her body to the apex of her thighs. Maybe that had changed too. The things that felt so good before, so right. The things that got her off.

Behind closed eyes she thought of him, that dark intensity he'd try to hide from his eyes. The way he had looked at her earlier, blushing madly but unable to draw his gaze away.

Melody licked her lips, wishing she knew how it felt to have his tongue explore this new mouth. Explore _her_. She felt herself shatter at the thought, her hips spasming wildly against her fingers as her nerves exploded with her orgasm.

After her shower she stepped, dressed and dried, into her bedroom. She wasn't sure exactly when or how, but Melody suddenly realised she and the Doctor shared a room, and had done for quite some time.

As Time Lords, neither she or the Doctor slept much, or often; only really having a few short hours sleep every week or so, but as Mels, Melody had often woken to find the Doctor lying next to her, sometimes enclosing her in an embrace she'd appeared to have returned in sleep, sometimes offering her a mug of tea.

Shrugging that small revelation off, Melody grabbed her diary and walked to the library where she found the Doctor sprawled across a couch, reading a well worn Agatha Christie novel. She stepped to stand next to the arm of the couch, leaning over his head with a smile, murmuring, "Hello Sweetie," and bending down to press her lips to the corner of his mouth.

The Doctor smiled, placing the book to rest against his stomach as one of his hands delved into her hair, grasping the back of her neck and holding her to him. He kissed her softly and chuckled, "Hello,"

"Thank you," she told him, "for today,"

They shifted, the Doctor sitting up, allowing her to join him on the couch. She didn't however, choosing instead to place a leg on either side of the Doctor's lap, straddling him, her arms linking around his neck. Melody smirked as he blushed, stammering "You're welcome," before she took pity on him and lent in for another kiss.

His hands settled quickly on her waist then, pulling her closer. When they broke apart the Doctor's arms wrapped around her, and Melody let her head rest against the crook of his neck. He held her in silence, for hours, just the two of them, perfectly content to sit and listen to only the sounds of their own breathing.

"Doctor," Melody whisper in what could be considered to be the early hours of the morning. "I've been considering and I think," she paused, trying to gather her thoughts, "I want to go to university. I want to study,"

"Oh?"

"I've read a lot of good things about the Luna University in the 52nd century," she told him, "They have a great archaeological program. I thought I might get a doctorate."

He smiled sadly, holding her a bit closer, "Now?" he couldn't hide the hesitancy in his voice,

"No, not now." Melody laughed, pulling back and kissing him, "But someday."

"Someday." He agreed with a nod, smiling brightly up at her. "You'll be _amazing_,"

**END**


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